Enchanted
by JkawaiiNeko
Summary: Their weapons in their hands, they felt as if they could do anything. But when their power becomes their curse,they would do anything just to play their instruments and sip tea again. Unfortunately, that life is far from where they are now. Slight AU


**_Well, apparently I've been watching too many magic-filled animes lately so I suppose that that's where this baby came from. While this chapter is very Yui-centric, the other chapters will give the characters chances to shine too! _**

**_Enjoy!_**

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><p><em>Yui was weak. There was no denying it; she knew it more than anybody else. But as long as she was with her friends, that did not matter because they protected her. Ritsu was headstrong and could beat up any bully. Mio was practical and used her wits to get out of any situation. Mugi was nice and gentle and no one ever wanted to do her any harm. Azusa was firm yet soft and her thoughts raced at an amazing speed even in times of great peril.<em>

_So Yui was naturally shocked when the people she thought were all so strong were laid out on the floor in front of her. Two large men stood behind her, one of their hands on her shoulder. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She had watched them easily beat her friends up. She prayed in her mind that Ui would not return home to such a scene. _

_These men had made their way in through the back door, going unnoticed by the girls who were all crowded into Yui_'s_ room with the door closed. They had pushed down and herded the teenage girls together then ransacked the house. Angry that they did not find much money or whatever it was they were looking for, they had threatened to start shooting if the girls did not gather up more money from the house. Yui had volunteered, swallowing her fear in a moment of pure courage for her friends. But she could not find any money under the bed or in her parent's dressers. There was just nothing there. _

"_Ch. You sure these are the kids? They look kinda puny to me." _

"_Yeah, these are the ones we're supposed to get anyways." _

_There was nothing she could do but watch Mio get punched in the face, Ritsu in the stomach. Yui could hear her heart thudding in her chest. Thud. Thud. Thud. Just as fast as Ritsu's sweat drum beats. She could feel the sweat dripping down her forehead as everything moved in slow motion. She closed her eyes and when she opened them the police were there and Ui had her arms wrapped around her tightly. _

_The criminals did not say what happened. _

_Neither would her friends. Even Azusa would look at her with a somber smile and then look away. She claimed that she did not remember either. But Yui could feel that she was lying…it was strange, that her precious Azunyan would lie to her. But as the days passed, that sensation went away and she tucked that horrible memory in the back of her mind. She was safe, along with her dear friends. She was just thankful for that. _

There were altogether. Afterschool Teatime were making their way to the small hill that overlooked their small city. They had been traveling by train, bus and foot all day just to reach the outer edges of the city where they could finally sit on the grassy plain and camp out for the night. There were a few other groups there as well, for the people of loved to look out over their city during the warm summer nights to gaze at the lights and to escape from reality. It was safe because the police always strolled through during the night and made sure that nothing out of the ordinary would happen.

But tonight, the group of five would not get to reach their destination. Hirasawa Yui, the air headed one in the group sighed loudly and swung the purple and pink polka dotted book bag from her shoulder, allowing it to drop unceremoniously onto the ground. "I'm tired! I can't go any further!" she announced and fell to her knees next to her bag. She laid her palms flat on the ground, leaning over so that her bangs shaded her chestnut brown eyes from her friend's view.

"We're almost there," Azusa, the youngest of the group insisted, sweat dropping at Yui's dramatic antics.

"Mou! It's so tiring Azunyan!" Yui cried, wrapping her arms around Azusa.

"Yosh! How about I carry this, then?" Ritsu suggested with a grin, swinging Yui's book bag over her shoulder easily.

"R-Ricchan~!" Yui sucked her snot back into her nose and looked at Ritsu with a grateful, teary expression. "Taking my burden for me!"

"How nice of Ricchan," Mugi agreed, smiling gently at Ritsu who grinned back.

Mio sighed and wiped some sweat from her brow. Her long black tresses were pulled back into a ponytail since the hike was long and her hair would only make her hotter.

"Let's just get up the hill…I-its getting dark…" Mio pointed out, a tint of fear lacing her words as she looked up at the quickly darkening sky behind the tall trees.

"Good idea," Azusa agreed wearily.

The group continued their journey through the forest, following the trail and chatting away merrily. Soon, they would make it to the end of the trail where they would be led up the hill and therefore would have reached their destination.

They were all so caught up in their merriment that they did not notice the footsteps behind them until the person following them spoke. "It's so nice to see teenagers having a good, clean fun together."

The small group all turned around simultaneously to see a woman with long black hair and twinkling, mischievous green eyes. She wore a long tan trench coat and ruby red lipstick that stuck out against her olive-tan skin. She had her hands in her pockets and looked them all over. "Hmm…" she hummed, and Ritsu laughed softly and scratched her cheek.

"Eh heh, yeah. W-we're pretty good friends," she said nervously, a bit put off by this stranger suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"It's a shame that you all don't even know who you are. The power you could have already…ah, it's alright though. You still have time."

All was silent as they tried to register her words. But none were able to properly discern her words and the girls looked warily at each other.

"Uh…well we have to go," Ritsu was no longer comfortable with this woman, and being the most outspoken and daring one the group, decided to take charge. She started to usher the girls away but the woman continued speaking.

"My name is Sloane, by the way. Incase you ever want to find me again," the woman said. "I'm going to open up something inside of you that were giving to you all by Hirasawa Yui about a year ago." Sloane looked pointedly at Yui, who jumped in surprise at hearing her name.

"What are you talking about?" Ritsu asked with an angry edge to her voice. She could practically feel Mio shaking in fear behind her.

The woman shook her head and started to walk towards Mugi, who turned to run but was shocked when the woman was right in front of her as soon as she turned around. She let out a startled shout and fell onto her bottom.

"Mugi!" Her friends were already running towards her, and the turned to run again but shouted in fear when the lady grabbed her by the ankle. The woman had a vice like grip that threatened to break her bones, and Mugi cried out in anguish and fear as she struggled against the woman. She kicked and thrashed but she did not let go and her smile widened when her friends draped their bodies around him.

"Let her go!" "Get the hell off!" Azusa and Ritsu shouted. Sloane grinned and nodded, releasing the girl abruptly so that they all fell into one big puddle of teenagers. Satisfied that they were all successfully together, Sloane blew a kiss at them and waved slowly at them.

"Always stick together, children," Sloane said, and disappeared right before their eyes.

Yui gasped first- echoed by the others- as she suddenly felt as if her soul was being ripped from her body.

Yui found herself riding out a wave of emotions. Pain, happiness, anger, sadness…it felt as if she was going insane. The lights dancing in front of her eyes were all so brilliant and showed colors that no human eye could usually perceive. It felt as if she could die and come back a thousand times. Every nerve ending tingled with excitement as her body writhed around in the grass beneath her, feeling every strand of the greenery as if she had never touched it before. The smell of the dew was pungent and it felt as if her senses had been sharpened by over nine thousand. When she opened her eyes, she did not see the world but only one thing.

A key.

It was circular at the base and the end had jagged dips and it was attached to a thin chain necklace. She could practically see the warmth radiating off of its fine gold. Yui slowly reached out and was actually not startled by her hand and arm coming into her vision even though they were shining as brightly as gold themselves. She wrapped her hand around the key.

And was suddenly slammed right back into reality so hardly that her body bounced up and came back onto the ground with an alarming thud. She blinked away the blurriness and found herself looking up at the bright sky over head. It took her a few seconds to realize that there was something warm sitting in the palm of her hand and she instinctively closed her fist around it.

"The hell was that?" Yui smiled gently when she heard Ritsu's voice and realized her friends were also getting up, albeit sluggishly and a bit angrily.

"I- I don't know but…" Azusa breathed, her arms shakily bringing her upper body up. "It was…sort of amazing."

"The lights were brilliant," Mugi agreed, smiling despite the pale tone of her skin and slightly sweaty brow.

"Hm, well whatever it was, that lady did it. But it looks like we're all okay except for being a bit shaky and tired," Ritsu concluded.

"So…her plan was to shake us up?" Azusa looked quizzically around at her group of friends.

Mio looked up at the bright sky then pulled out her baby blue cell phone from her pocket, "W-we were in there for _hours_ though. It was approximately midnight when that woman showed up. It's almost eleven in the morning now!"

Yui looked around, gratefully that her friends did not notice that she was being uncharacteristically quiet at the moment. She felt the key in her palms but it seemed that none of her friends had anything in their hands. Should she tell them what she had gotten? And what about what that Sloane lady had said?

"_I'm going to open up something inside of you that were giving to you all by Hirasawa Yui, here about a year ago." _

What was that about? Everything had happened so quickly that she did get a chance to see her friend's reactions to that…but now they still were not saying anything about it.

What was she supposed to do with this key?

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><p>"I did my job," red lips parted in a smile that showed off bright white teeth. The woman ran her long fingernail across the wooden table top, leaving a trail in its wake. "So now you all can do yours, yes?" her dark eyes wandered over to the group ahead of her, each looking impassive. The girl she had long ago started to consider the leader of the group flipped her hair to the side and started to walk towards her as she flicked her cigarette.<p>

"What's in it for us anyways?" the girl asked, raising her pierced eyebrow inquisitively.

The woman chuckled, causing the girl to frown. "Power, of course," the woman finally answered, "And lots of it."

"Look, I ain't interested in your playin' the villain bullshit or whatever you're tryin' to pull with these trick answers," the girl slammed her palm on the tabletop and stared the woman in the eyes. "How do we know you aren't gonna pull the same trick on us as you're doing to those kids?"

"You all are different, obviously," the woman answered, "and you're just going to have to trust me. All you need to worry about is getting the job done and everything will work out fine. I'll even disappear from your lives if that's what you want."

The girl hummed satisfaction before smirking and looking towards her group. They seemed to share a conversation with their eyes before the girl turned back to the woman and said a simple, "we'll do it."

"Perfect," the woman grinned and leaned back in her chair. "That's what I like to hear."

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><p>She was in a deep sleep. When she had gotten home, Ui had been shocked and immediately bombarded her with a million questions all pertaining to Yui's wellbeing. But Yui tried her best to assure her sister that she was perfectly alright.<p>

She had collapsed onto her bed and went into dreamland, the key hanging from her neck from the necklace.

_Long hair fluttered in _ _the wind. The taller girl had a blade strapped to her arm and was fighting with graceful, quick and precise movements. The bladed tonfa was like an extension of her body as she moved fluidly around her shadowed enemies. And Yui knew who it was without having to see her face…Mio. _

_An arrow whizzed past Yui and struck directly in the heart of an enemy, causing the being to cry out and fall dead onto its back. Yui looked up and saw the beautiful Mugi standing in a nearby tree._

_She heard the sound of another being crying out and turned to see pigtails flying in the wind as a dagger relinquished itself from the body. She could see that Azusa had several more strapped to her waist by a belt as the serious girl ran to the next enemy. _

_The deafening sound of gunshots sounded through the air and Ritsu came running through, never missing her target with her semi-automatic like Yui had seen police officers carry. _

_The key around Yui's neck hummed and glowed with energy. She could hear its voice on the wind. _

'_You give them this power, Hirasawa Yui. Without you, they are locked. Only you can choose what to do with this power. Power comes with great responsibility, and great hardships.' _

_Yui swallowed as her four best friends lined up before her, their eyes glowing an unnatural red, their smiles turned into creepy smirks. _

'_Power can always bring about evil if not tamed.' _

_They neared her, their low chuckles so unlike the happy giggles that she had come to know and love. _

_She could do nothing but back up slowly, her back pressing against the hard stone behind her that she had not realized was behind her. The weight of the world fell on her shoulders…she knew this was her fault somehow. _

_Responsibility had never been her friend, after all._

Jolted from her slumber, Yui shot up in her bed. She clasped the key around her neck and felt its unnatural warmth.

"My friends…" Yui breathed.

That dream was just too real to not be reality.

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><p><strong>AN: **

**Well, all I can say is that you'll see why everyone has a blade other than Ritsu XD and more about Yui and this key issue. I hope that I can take this story far and that you guys will review and give me feedback so that I can know how I'm doing :3 **

**Also, more on the flashbacks, the group and the evil lady later~**

**ITS OVER NINE THOUSAND! Did anybody catch that? XD **


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